• Average Weight: 3 lb. - 12 lb.
• Peak Weight: 20 lb.
• IGFA Record: 22.4 lb.
• Common Names: Summer Flounder, Fluke

Summer flounder, also known as fluke, range from North Carolina to Massachusetts. Anglers can easily target them from shore, piers, party boats, center consoles and small skiffs. It is an everyman's sport fish, custom-made for a lazy summer afternoon of fishing.

Like many species, this flatfish was commercially overfished in recent decades, but appears to making a comeback in some parts of its range thanks to wise management and regulations. Indeed, many states are reporting increased catches of fluke in the last few seasons, which is good news for those who like to catch and eat these popular and delicious fish.

Habitat and Distribution

Summer flounder move offshore into deep water during the winter. With the arrival of spring, the fish migrate inshore, where they can often be caught in a mere foot or two of water. As inshore water temperatures rise in summer, the flounder move once again to deeper, cooler water, only to stage another brief inshore run in the fall before heading offshore for the winter.

Summer flounder can be found in a variety of habitats, but prefer smooth sand and mud bottoms that see a good flow of current. Inlets, estuaries, creek mouths, channel edges, and sandy shoals are good spots to hunt for them. Fluke also like to orient themselves around structure, so look for areas where a rocky or rubbly bottom abuts a sand or mud bottom. The fish will often hold around the transition zone. In areas of eel grass, fluke will lurk along the fringes or in sandy pockets. Finally, look for them around the downcurrent edges of wrecks, reefs, bridge and jetty pilings, and the tips of jetties.

Summer flounder range along the East Coast from North Carolina to Massachusetts, although a few fish stray as far as South Carolina and Maine. They have a tremendous depth range. Depending on the season, they can be caught in water as deep as 200 feet and as shallow as a foot. The trick to catching them consistently is determining their preferred depth zone.

Baits and Lures

Summer flounder are predators, just like striped bass and bluefish, and all three species are often caught in the same areas. Equipped with a set of sharp cutting teeth, fluke are not shy about chasing down their meals, and sometimes pursue bait on the surface.

Most experts agree: if you want to catch a big flounder, use live bait. Popular offerings include killifish (mummichogs), small bluefish, peanut bunker, and silversides. Dead, whole squid, sand eels, and squid strips also take their share of large fluke, as do a variety of metal spoons, bucktail jigs and soft-plastics. Fluke can even be caught on flies and deep-diving swimming plugs. Many experts combine natural baits and lures, such as a live killifish rigged on a bucktail jig, or a dead sand eel on a diamond jig.

Soft-plastic baits such as Mario's Squid Strips and Berkley Power Strips have also proven deadly on fluke in some situations. These artificial strip baits are flexible, easy to store, come in a variety of colors (including glitter flake), and emit a natural scent that attracts flounder. They can be fished by themselves on a single hook, or rigged as a "trailer" on a leadhead jig or diamond jig.

Tackle

A six-foot, medium-action rod with a sensitive tip for detecting strikes and a stiff butt and midsection for setting the hook and powering fish off the bottom will work nicely for summer flounder. The light tip also helps prevent the hook from tearing out of the fish's mouth as it's being brought to the surface. Light baitcasting or spinning reels filled with 8- to 12-pound test will suffice in most inshore situations, although heavier line is sometimes needed to handle bigger fish in deeper water. In recent years, some experts have made the switch to "super-braid" line, as its low-stretch and thin diameter make it easier to keep baits and lures on the bottom in strong currents and to detect the flounder's often subtle bite.

Terminal Rigging

Terminal rigs for flounder run the gambit from complex to simple. The standard high-low rig, with a heavy jig on the bottom and a lighter jig or spoon (or jig-bait combo) rigged a foot above it on a dropper loop, is standard. Another popular setup features a spinner blade or Spin 'N Glo placed a foot or two ahead of a live bait or bait/teaser combo. Live baits can be slow-trolled or left to sit on the bottom on a simple fishfinder or sliding-sinker rig. Spreader bars also work well on fluke, and give you the advantage of experimenting with two different baits to find out which one the fish prefer.

Flounder fishing demands many different sinker and jig weights to reach and hold bottom in different depths and current. Jig weights can range from 1 to 4 ounces, depending on current strength and depth, so bring a wide assortment. Color can also make a big difference, with the fish preferring chartreuse one day and red the next.

Live-bait or circle hooks work well with natural baits. The latter have proven very effective in recent years, and tend to catch in the flounder's jaw a high percentage of the time - good for catch-and-release fishing.

Since summer flounder have sharp teeth, be sure to rig up with a thin wire trace (the new nickel-titanium leaders are great for this) or fluorocarbon leader of at least 20 pounds

Techniques

Drifting is the most common method of catching summer flounder, as it allows you to cover more ground. Once you discover where the fish are holding, you can narrow the drift accordingly. Make a drift through the hot zone, then circle around and repeat. A good drift will commonly carry the boat over a drop-off, sandbar, ledge or through a channel or inlet. In a drop-off situation, you want to "walk" or hop your bait or lure along the sloping bottom as you drift. The key is to keep your rig on the bottom, which means you must let out line as the water deepens, or reel it in as it shallows. Wind and/or current may conspire to make the drift too fast. In this case, a sea anchor or five-gallon bucket tossed over the side to slow the drift can be useful. Conversely, on calm days with little or no current, the drift speed can be increased with the aid of a trolling motor.

Live and dead baits can be fished from the shore or at anchor. In this case, the baits are usually left to sit on the bottom until a flounder happens along. If you prefer a more active approach, you can cast out and retrieve your baits and lures by hopping them over the bottom. Chum can also be used to lure flounder to an anchored boat.

Slow-trolling is yet another way to take flounder, and allows you to cover a lot of territory. With this technique, jigs, live baits or deep-diving plugs are pulled slowly behind the boat, so that they bump bottom occasionally.